Mamma Mia

I am using my visit to my 91-year-old mother in Honolulu as a pretext to our use of the Italian all-purpose interjection: Mamma Mia! An interjection is usually elicited by an incidence of surprise from an event that occasions an intrusion of the unexpected, the unsynchronuous, and the discontinuous.

Having lived on and off Honolulu for the last 30 years, I did not think anything in the island of Oahu would come as a surprise. Surprise comes when we assume logic or what is reasonable is the ruling principle in life. A day trip into Honolulu turned up to be a day of surprises.

We’ve watched the spectacular transformation of Victoria Island in Hong Kong, from the previously woody environs of inconspicuous but rich Puk Fu Lam Road and the previously ticky-tacky buildings of varied entrepreneurial ventures on Repulse Bay in the ’70s, to the now cosmopolitan island gem of China anchoring the Pearl River basis since its return from British rule, and we have a pretty objective picture of the external changes, warts and all, that comes with “progress.”

More than a decade ago, when commuting to WorkHawaii downtown Honolulu from Ewa Beach, 20 miles on the odometer covered our distance on heavy traffic, we made it from home to office in 45 minutes tops. Last week, we had an appointment at the Immigration Office on Ala Moana of the same distance, and because H1 has added more lanes, we thought we had ample time to arrive in town early to find parking space and, perhaps, even have time to grab a bite. We left at 6:30am and we made it to the office at 8:55am on an 8:15am appointment. The traffic was unbelievably dense and slow. Happily, USCIS in Honolulu is more customer service friendly than other places of my experience.

The planned rapid rail being constructed from Kapolei to Honolulu has since earned the ire of former state governor Ben Cayetano, declared candidate for Honolulu mayor on the sole issue of stopping the rail construction. He thinks the project is too expensive and that an improved bus system would be cheaper and easier to implement.

Travel across the leeward side of the island has become a high priority that no public official can ignore, and while the rest of the world is heading high-tech on rails to move traffic, Cayetano hangs on the gas guzzling practices of the highways and roads with single occupant cars, and the time-consuming buses, all in the name of individual freedom and choice of mobility, admirable intent to the automobile industry but impractical in delaying a socially necessary deed. We said the same earlier about Los Angeles and its two cars in the garage culture.

The traffic and Pare Ben’s response was our first surprise.

The Hawaiian congregation of the Kaumakapili United Church of Christ established in the ’70s medical and dental services at Kalihi-Palama district, the predominantly Hawaiian and congested settlement area of the new immigrants to Honolulu situated “across Aala creek” that is the equivalent of “across the tracks” in the American south. I went there to have my teeth checked and cleaned, last seen at the Saipan Clinic two years ago.

Kalihi-Palama Health Center provides services in general medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, family planning, health education, WIC nutrition, dental and optometry programs, case management, and behavioral/mental health. KPHC serves patients in multiple languages including Ilocano, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Samoan, Spanish, Laotian, Tongan, Chukese, Pohnpeian, and Kosraean.

Partnered with the Institute of Human Services and River of Life Mission, it delivers health care to the area’s large homeless population, with WIC providing breastfeeding and nutrition counseling with food coupons. It is an education site for the UH Schools of Nursing, Medicine, and Social Work. It collaborates on community research projects with other health centers and associations. The Kalihi-Palama services are working examples of low-income services professionally and adequately provided by private concerns (e.g., Hawaii’s Weinburg Foundation and the nondenominational Tensho Kotai Jingu-Kyo Hawaii Dojo) supported by public funds.

A living rainbow coalition, Hawaii born-and-bred Stefanie of Thai extraction, and Kit Larson, DDS erstwhile of Palau, cared for my dental needs well at affordable cost. A really big surprise of unquestionable service in an age when America and the world trade in the language of suspicion and conspiracy, horror and terror, fear and trepidation!

Our last surprise was very personal: our size. I am definitely obese in China, but we are petite in Hawaii. Size is relative. Gee, even surprises are relative.

Italian Mamma Mia is Madre Mia in Spanish, but the Holy Sh*t surprise on the no-brainer rail issue is carried by my other political Uncle Ben, OMG is pretty appropriate on KPHC’s existences and service, and a Pinoy JesusMariaJose, with the sign of the cross and a clutch on the rosary beads, can only be the proper response on my size.

As to my Mama Mia/Cara Mia, that will have to be another reflection.

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[I] Vergara is a regular contributor to the [/I]Saipan Tribune’[I]s Opinion Section[/I]